Bill Belichick Shows His Human Side

July 24, 2013|Jeff Jacobs

Over 22 minutes, Bill Belichick said Aaron Hernandez's name once. He said it at the beginning of a news conference that drew about 200 media members Wednesday to Gillette Stadium, and the Patriots coach never said it again.

Instead, Belichick used words like "that individual" and "one of our players." It was as if the very act of saying Hernandez's name was too hurtful, too distasteful, too damn nauseating.

I'm not entirely sure what people expected before Belichick spoke for the first time since murder charges were leveled against Hernandez — and supposedly for the last time. Belichick has set the bar so painfully low over the years at his typical football press conferences, offering little of substance, displaying a tone only a centimeter short of total condescension, that there are some who undoubtedly expected him to say, "no comment," wheel around and leave.

Yet those who would be quick to write Belichick off as a cold-blooded, paranoid autocrat would have been disappointed. On Wednesday, at least before he began the expected legal bobbing-and-weaving during the question-and-answer period, Belichick showed real remorse. He hurt. He bled. During that opening seven-minute statement, he let his guard down to show real humanity. Appropriate is the word that strikes me.

"It's a sad day," Belichick said. "It's really a sad day on so many levels. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim. I extend my sympathy to everyone who was impacted. A young man has lost his life. His family has suffered a tragic loss. There is no way to understate that."

Hernandez was gone from the Patriots the June day he was arrested charged in the killing of Odin Lloyd. Belichick was out of the country. On this July day — whether ironic and or just plain bizarre — Belichick spoke at the same time that Hernandez appeared down the road in an Attleboro courtroom.

Those who know Belichick well, away from the cameras and the tape recorders, have long insisted that he is an engaging and interested man. For the rest of us, we see a distant man, a sometimes difficult, intelligent man. In a situation like this it's not always what you say, it is how you say it and what your body language is. On Wednesday, we saw a human being. One who obviously feels sorrow and on some level one who feels embarrassment in a selection process that would allow an accused murderer into his fold.

"We'll learn from this terrible experience," Belichick said. "We'll become a better team from the lessons we've learned."

You knew coming in that Belichick would be providing little or no information about the Lloyd case. That's the reality of legal proceedings, and Belichick used the cover well. He did say that the Patriots had no prior knowledge of a 2012 Boston double-homicide investigation or a 2013 Florida shooting that could involve Hernandez. Although in his opening statement he said he agreed 100 percent with owner Robert Kraft's recent words, Belichick would not answer a direct question if he felt duped by Hernandez. He would not even say if he had spoken to Hernandez since Lloyd's murder.

In his opening statement, Belichick did say, "As a coach of the team I'm primarily responsible for people we bring into the football operation. Our players are generally highly motivated and gifted athletes. They come from very different backgrounds. They met many challenges along the way.

"Sometimes they had made bad or immature decisions. But we try to look at every situation on a case-by-case basis. Most of those decisions have worked out. Some don't. Overall I'm proud of the hundreds of players that have come through this program. I'm personally disappointed and hurt in a situation like this … the charges involved is not a good one on that record."

The hard questions that Belichick had to face, of course, were about the process that would allow Hernandez to be drafted, the process that would allow Hernandez three years later to be signed to a $40 million contract extension, a process that failed to catch on to a guy who had a growing list of problems.

"We've talked about what we want to do on that subject going forward," he said. "The draft is nine months off. We have a process in place. Can it be improved? Can it be modified? It possibly can. We're going to look at it."

"I can tell you that we look at every player's history," he said. "Going back to his family, where he grew up, what his lifestyle was like, high school and college experiences. We evaluate his performance, intelligence, work ethic, motivation, maturity, improvement, and we try to project that in our organization."